Salmonella infection in Broiler flocks in Egypt

Abstract

Salmonella infections are considered to be the most important disease affecting poultry. The disease causes severe damage among young birds with a high mortality rate. Adult birds are often chronic carriers of Salmonella organisms without outward signs. In the present study the prevalence of Salmonella species in the broiler flocks was 10.37% among 3 governorates in Egypt (Al-Qalyubia, El-Ismailia and El-Gharbia). The highest incidence of salmonella was recorded in El-Gharbia then El-Ismailia and AL-Qalyubia. The incidence of salmonellae in the closed system farms was higher than the open system farms. It was noticed that the most common Salmonella serotype was Salmonella Enteritidis followed by Salmonella Kentucky, Salmonella Newport, Salmonella Derby, Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Infantis. Salmonellae were isolated from intestine, yolk sac, heart, liver and spleen. The incidence rate was highly reported on 5th week age then 1st week, 4th week, 2nd week, 6th week and the 3rd week. It is clear that salmonella infection still prevalent in poultry farms in Egypt.

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Bioscience Research
Print ISSN: 1811-9506 Online ISSN: 2218-3973
Journal by Innovative Scientific Information & Services Network
RESEARCH ARTICLE BIOSCIENCE RESEARCH, 201815(3):1925-1930. OPEN ACCESS
Salmonella infection in Broiler flocks in Egypt
Salem Soliman1*; Ahmed Adel Seida2*; Sahar Zou El-Fakar3; Youssef Ibrahim
Youssef3; and Jakeen El-Jakee2
1Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 11221, Egypt
2Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 11221, Egypt
3Department of Diseases of Poultry and Rabbits, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Giza 11221, Egypt
*Correspondence: seida_aa@cu.edu.eg, dr.vsalem@gmail.com Accepted: 06May 2018 Published online: 13 Aug. 2018
Salmonella infections are considered to be the most important disease affecting poultry. The disease
causes severe damage among young birds with a high mortality rate. Adult birds are often chronic
carriers of Salmonella organisms without outward signs. In the present study the prevalence of
Salmonella species in the broiler flocks was 10.37% among 3 governorates in Egypt (Al-Qalyubia, El-
Ismailia and El-Gharbia). The highest incidence of salmonella was recorded in El-Gharbia then El-
Ismailia and AL-Qalyubia. The incidence of salmonellae in the closed system farms was higher than the
open system farms. It was noticed that the most common Salmonella serotype was Salmonella
Enteritidis followed by Salmonella Kentucky, Salmonella Newport, Salmonella Derby, Salmonella
Typhimurium and Salmonella Infantis. Salmonellae were isolated from intestine, yolk sac, heart, liver
and spleen. The incidence rate was highly reported on 5th week age then 1st week, 4th week, 2nd week,
6th week and the 3rd week. It is clear that salmonella infection still prevalent in poultry farms in Egypt.
Keywords: Salmonella, Broiler, closed system farms, open system.
INTRODUCTION
In poultry, which represents important source
of cheap protein throughout the world, avian
salmonellosis continue to cause economic losses,
particularly in those parts of the world where the
poultry industries are continuing to intensify and
where open sided housing is common.
Salmonellae are responsible for considerable
losses in the poultry industry through the death of
birds and loss in production and it is estimated to
cost poultry farmers in some countries.
Avian salmonellosis is an inclusive term
designating a large group of acute and chronic
diseases of poultry caused by any one or more
member of genus Salmonella under the family
Enterobacteriaceae. However, particular
Salmonella serovars may be encountered more
frequently in one country than the other (Capita et
al., 2003 and Liljebjelke et al., 2005). So the aim
of the study was to survey the present status of
Salmonella organism in broiler flocks.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Samples:
A total of 482 samples (liver, intestine, spleen,
heart and yolk sac) were collected from moribund
broiler chickens showing diarrhea and respiratory
distress of different ages ranged from 1 to 42 day
old age, reared in deep litter under open and
closed systems of housing from 3 Governorates
(AL-Qalyubia, El-Gharbia and EL-Ismailia) as
shown in Table 1.

Soliman et al., Salmonella infection in Broiler flocks in Egypt
Bioscience Research, 2018 volume 15(3): 1925-1930 1926
Table (1) Distribution of total examined samples from moribund and apparently healthy chicks.
Table (2) Incidence of salmonellae according to the Governorates
Governorate
No. of Samples
Salmonellae
Positive number
%
El –Gharbia
187
25
13.37 %
El –Ismailia
144
15
10.42 %
AL-Qalyubia
151
10
6.62 %
Total
482
50
10.37%
Isolation and Identification of Salmonellae:
All samples (Heart-liver-Intestine-Spleen-Yolk
sac) were collected under aseptic conditions and
safety precautions. These samples were collected
in sterile condition using sterile scissors and
forceps and collected in sterile bags.
The procedure for isolation and identification of
Salmonellae were conducted according to the ISO
6579 (2005) and Quinn et al., (2002). Diagnostic
poly and monovalent Salmonella "O" and "H"
antisera were used for serological identification of
Salmonella isolates (Salmonella diagnostic
antisera, Sifin Institut for Immun praparate and
Nahrmedien GmbH Berlin, Germany) according to
Kauffmann and Das Kauffmann (2001).
RESULTS
Fifty suspected Salmonella isolates out of 482
examined samples were detected with an
incidence of 10.37%. The highest incidence of
salmonellae was in El-Gharbia (13.37 %) then El-
Ismailia (10.42 %) and AL-Qalyubia (6.62 %) as
Shown in Table 2. The rate of Salmonella isolation
in the closed system farms (14.67 %) was higher
than in the open system farms (8.43 %) as shown
in Table 3. Salmonellae were isolated from
intestine (17.39 %), yolk sac (13.64 %), heart
(11.3 %). liver (7.83 %) and spleen (4.35%) as
shown in Table 4.
The highest incidence of salmonellae was
recorded in the 5th week of age (20.24%) then the
1st week (11.11 %), 4th week (10 %), 2nd week
(9.21 %), 6th week (5.88%) and the 3rd week (2.9
%) as shown in Table 5.
By using polyvalent and monovalent
Salmonella O and H antisera, Salmonella isolates
were serotyped as: S. Enteritidis (56%), S.
Kentucky (16 %), S. Newport (12 %), S. Derby
and S. Typhimurium (4 % each) and S. Infantis
(2%) as shown in Table 6.
Data of samples
Distribution of examined samples
from different governorates
Total
AL-Qalyubia
El-Gharbia
El-Ismailia
Number of farms
6
7
6
19
System of
housing
Open
6
6
2
14
Closed
0
1
4
5
Number of examined
samples
Number of birds
36
43
36
115
Liver
36
43
36
115
Intestine
36
43
36
115
Heart
36
43
36
115
Spleen
36
43
36
115
Yolk sac
7
15
0
22
Total No. of Samples
151
187
144
482

Soliman et al., Salmonella infection in Broiler flocks in Egypt
Bioscience Research, 2018 volume 15(3): 1925-1930 1927
Table (3) Incidence of salmonellae according to the housing system
Table (4) Incidence of salmonellae according to the organs selected from each bird
Organ
No. of Samples
Salmonellae
Positive number
%
1-Intestine
115
20
17.39 %
2- Yolk sac
22
3
13.64 %
3-Heart
115
13
11.3 %
4-liver
115
9
7.83 %
5-Spleen
115
5
4.35%
Total
482
50
10.37 %
Table (5) Incidence salmonellae according to the bird age
Table (6) Incidence of Salmonella serovars
Salmonella serotype
Positive
number
%
Heart
Liver
Intestine
Spleen
Yolk
sac
S. Enteritidis
28
56%
6
7
14
0
1
S. Kentucky
8
16 %
1
0
3
3
1
S. Newport
6
12 %
3
1
1
1
0
S. Typhimurium
2
4 %
0
0
1
1
0
S. Derby
2
4 %
1
1
0
0
0
S. Infantis
1
2 %
0
0
1
0
0
Other Salmonellae
3
6 %
2
0
0
0
1
Total
50
100%
13
9
20
5
3
DISCUSSION
The present study was carried out to survey
salmonella infection in broiler flocks in Egypt.
According European Food Safety Agency (EFSA)
(2007) an average of 23.7% of broiler farms in EU
were Salmonella positive, with a wide variation (0
to 68%) between countries, the most common
serotypes were S. Enteritidis, S. Infantis, S.
Mbandaka, S. Typhimurium and S. Hadar.
It is clear that, 50 out of 482 samples were
positive to salmonellae (10.37 %.) These results
could be comparable with those reported by Emad
Farm Type
No. of Samples
Salmonellae
Positive number
%
Closed System
150
22
14.67 %
Open System
332
28
8.43 %
Total
482
50
10.37 %
Age of the bird
No. of Samples
Salmonellae
Positive number
%
1st week
126
14
11.11 %
2nd week
76
7
9.21 %
3rd week
68
2
2.9 %
4th week
60
6
10 %
5th week
84
17
20.24%
6th week
68
4
5.88%
Total
482
50
10.37 %

Soliman et al., Salmonella infection in Broiler flocks in Egypt
Bioscience Research, 2018 volume 15(3): 1925-1930 1928
(1996), Mohamed (1998), Mahmoud and Mousa
(2000), Verma et al.,(2000) and Rihan (2004)
who mentioned that incidence of Salmonella
species was 10%, 12 %, 9.17%, 15.02% and 12
% respectively. While Venkana et al., (1996),
Saaridis et al., (2011) and Authman (1992)
mentioned that the incidence of Salmonella
species was 6.32%, 37% and 30 % respectively.
And for Marin et al., (2011) the prevalence of
Salmonella organism ranged between 1.5% and
38.6%.
An increased risk of detection of Salmonella,
mainly S. Enteritidis, was recorded in caged flocks
(Much et al., 2007; Snow et al., 2007). This may
result from a less diverse intestinal microbiota and
more persistent colonization by Salmonella in
confined small groups of birds (Nordentoft et al.,
2011; Gast et al., 2013). In the present
investigation the incidence of salmonellae in the
closed system farms was higher than the open
system farms. Eggs are more likely to be
contaminated when infected birds are placed in
floor-based housing (De Vylder et al., 2011).
Our results revealed that the highest
incidence of Salmonella isolation was from the
intestine followed by yolk sac then heart, liver and
spleen. Mohamed (1998) recorded that the rate of
salmonella isolation from liver was 12%. While
Putturu et al., (2012) reported 50% rate of
salmonella isolation from liver and 40% from
spleen and kidney samples.
S. Enteritidis (56 %), S. Kentucky (16 %), S.
Newport (12 %), S. Typhimurium and S. Derby (4
% each) and S. Infantis (2%) were identified from
the examined samples. Kim et al., (2003) isolated
S. Derby (5.5%), S. Typhimurium (3.7%) and the
untypable (12.9%). Abdallah (1995) mentioned
that the incidence of Salmonella Enteritidis was
40%. Marin et al., (2011) reported that the
incidence of isolation of Salmonella Enteritidis
was 52.9% and Abd El-Ghany et al., (2012)
detected Salmonella Enteritidis in (37.25%) of the
examined samples.
Higher incidence for isolation of S.
Typhimurium (4%) and S. Enteritidis (56%) were
reported by Authman (1992) and Mohamed
(1998) as 17.8% and 33.3 % respectively and by
Carli et al., (2001) the incidence of S. Enteritidis
was (81.5%). EL-Jakee et al., (2016) detected S.
Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium from eggs.
Salmonella enterica serovars Enteritidis and
Typhimurium are the two most frequently isolated
serovars from humans and animals (Ngwai et al.,
2006) and account for 57-67% of the world’s total
annual isolates (World Health Organization,
2007). S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium were
identified by EL-Jakee et al., (2014) from poultry
products (5% each). In the early 1900s,
Salmonella enterica serovars Pullorum and
gallinarum caused widespread diseases in
poultry, but vaccination helped in eradication of
them from commercial flocks.
CONCLUSION
Salmonella infection still prevalent in poultry
farms in Egypt. The present study indicated the
presence of serotype variations of Salmonella
organism in Egypt particularly in Al-Qalyubia, El-
Ismailia and El-Gharbia, and isolated from
different organs, on different ages from either
open or closed house system.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The present study was performed in absence
of any conflict of interest.
ACKNOWLEGEMENT
The authors grateful to all staff members of
Microbiology Department, Faculty of Veterinary
Medicine, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
S.S., A.A.S., J.J. designed the project,
performed experiments, analyzed data, and
prepared the manuscript; S.Z.E. and Y.I.Y. aided
in the analysis of data, provided valuable
comments and ideas, and technical assistance
during the development of the project; J.J., S.Z.E.
and Y.I.Y. designed and supervised the work; and
S.S. and A.A.S. wrote the manuscript.
Copyrights: © 2018 @ author (s).
This is an open access article distributed under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License
(CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use,
distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original author(s) and source are
credited and that the original publication in this
journal is cited, in accordance with accepted
academic practice. No use, distribution or
reproduction is permitted which does not comply
with these terms.
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